In the footsteps of the Carmelite Friars

By Brendan Chester-Kadwell

There has been a burgeoning interest within the last few years for scholarly research by secular academics into medieval friaries and the archaeology of the religious houses from which they operated. This complements a long tradition of scholarship by members of the various religious orders themselves. The new research has benefited from redevelopment within the urban cores of historic cities and towns. It has provided opportunities for thorough archaeological investigation and encouraged supporting research by scholars from other disciplines. Friaries, which were mostly built on medieval urban sites, were usually quite quickly redeveloped for other uses following their suppression in the 1530s.

The Early Years

Although an urban setting was generally the case for Carmelite foundations, there is a group of four early Carmelite houses in England that were founded on rural sites.

These were established between 1242 and 1247 under the patronage of local knights. The first house was at Hulne in Northumberland (1242), the second at Aylesford,

Kent (also 1242, but later), a third at Lossenham, Kent and a fourth at Burnham Norton in Norfolk, both before 1247 (the exact foundation dates of these two houses is uncertain). The significance of these four establishments is that they predated the change in the Carmelite Rule, which enabled the hermits of Mount Carmel (dedicated to a life of prayer and meditation away from populated areas) henceforth to embrace service to local communities in or near urban settlements.

Of the two situated in Kent, the one at Aylesford was re-founded as a

Carmelite house in 1949. Aylesford still boasts a magnificent collection of medieval buildings from the original Carmelite foundation, but it has also been adapted to the needs of the present community of friars. Kent had a strong connection to the Order in medieval times with the second house at Lossenham and a third house being established at Sandwich by 1268. In the early days of the Order, Aylesford was of particular importance and it was here that the first General Chapter of the Order was held in 1247. It was at Aylesford that a change to the Rule was proposed and accepted, and the journey began for the Carmelites to become one of the great mendicant Orders of the Middle Ages.

The Carmelites, also later known as the Whitefriars, originated as a group of hermits established at Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. A group of these hermits accompanied a Crusader army commanded by Richard Earl of

Cornwall (the brother of Henry III) when it returned to England in 1241. The Franciscan and Dominican friars are better known in the public mind, not least because they were the first. Founded in the early years of the thirteenth century they pioneered the idea of an active and mobile religious fraternity supported by the begging of alms from the lay community (thus they became known as mendicants from the Latin mendicus, a beggar). The Carmelites and Augustinians came later but were also highly successful following a similar lifestyle. These bands of brothers were dedicated to preaching and other forms of spiritual and material support for the faithful. Friars, therefore, differed from monks who lived in enclosed communities supported mainly by the land granted to them by benefactors.

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Fig 1: Map showing the locations of the first four Carmelite houses in England. Map: ©Pat Kadwell (after O’Sullivan)

Exploring New Insights

Research shows that the layout of individual Carmelite sites is less predictable than that of monastic sites. The challenge is often to accommodate the variations whilst identifying the similarities. Thus, there needs to be a greater emphasis on sharing the results between sites. A recent study of the Carmelite friary at Burnham Norton in Norfolk has raised several issues that might help in the study of Carmelite houses elsewhere. This is particularly so for Lossenham friary which is the subject of a new research project launched under the direction of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust last September. Lossenham and Burnham Norton are foundations of a similar date but, although they are in different parts of the country, they share many similarities in terms of their landscape and socio-economic contexts.

Burnham Norton Friary was initially located on an as yet unidentified site in the parish of Burnham Norton sometime before 1247. However, by 1253 it had been relocated to a new site in the same parish where its remains can still be observed. Like Lossenham, Burnham Norton friary was close to a coastal and riverine landscape of marshes and land prone to inundation and tidal streams. Both of these areas were part of important trading centres focussed on significant aspects of foreign trade. What are now experienced as sleepy rural locations were in their day busy and significant.

The friary at Burnham Norton was built near to the estuary of the River Burn, opposite a small trading port located at Burnham Overy. The Burnhams are a group of small parishes on the North Norfolk coast and were part of a trading network between Lynn and Yarmouth focussed on the North Sea trade with Germany and the Baltic states. The original precinct containing the church and other friary buildings was probably about an acre in extent. However, in the fourteenth century, this was expanded to somewhat over five acres. Although this made room for more friary buildings, much of the area of the expanded precinct was low lying and potentially vulnerable to periodic inundation.

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Fig 2: Aylesford Priory, the outer court or ‘curia’, showing part of the stone-built guest house (right) and much restored western range. Photo: © H. Clarke

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Fig 3: Plan of Burnham Norton Friary site in the fourteenth century. Plan: © Pat Kadwell Bottom

Fig 4: Plan of Burnham Norton Friary site in the fourteenth century. Plan: © Pat Kadwell

Little now remains of the friary buildings above ground apart from a pilgrim gate, which has been likened to a detached porch to the friary church. It was restored in 1848 by the 3rd Earl of Orford to a design by the architect William Butterfield. The remains of the west front of the fourteenth-century nave has survived close to the gatehouse, and the foundation walls of the church to the east can be made out. A present-day cottage to the north was almost certainly part of the original friary and in its oldest part contains fourteenth-century features. Fortunately, large parts of the fourteenth-century precinct walls survive and gives some idea of the extent of the original friary.

The full description of the friary site, its landscape context and archaeology can be found in a recently published book Burnham Norton Friary: perspectives on the Carmelites in Norfolk (Oldakre Press, 2019). The book is a multi- disciplinary collection of papers by several subject experts who explore a range of topics. These are relevant to an understanding not just to this particular friary and Norfolk but to Carmelite friaries in general. Thus, the book explores, for example, the origin of the Carmelites in the Holy Land, their relationship to other events in the contemporary Western Church, and lay engagement through the evidence from wills and testaments.

Full details of the book on Burnham Norton Friary can be found below. Information about the Lossenham Project can be obtained from Annie Partridge at Annie.

: oldakrepress@gmail.com